Mental wanderings of a common man.

Biden says Obama administration "misread the economy."

Actually, he said, “The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy.”

Oh, no we didn’t. There were plenty of people telling the President and VP Biden that the “recovery plan”, as he’s now calling it, was the wrong move and would not do what was promised in this economy. That’s why Republicans voted en masse against it, barring wonderful so-called Republicans like Senator Arlen Spector. Then there’s this little “Oh, it’s our responsibility but we’re not responsible” shtick:

“The truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited,” said Biden, who is leading the administration’s effort to implement it’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan.

“Now, that doesn’t — I’m not — it’s now our responsibility. So the second question becomes, did the economic package we put in place, including the Recovery Act, is it the right package given the circumstances we’re in? And we believe it is the right package given the circumstances we’re in,” he told me.

“That doesn’t–” what, Mr. Biden? That doesn’t mean you’re saying everything that happens economically during the 4 years you’re in office is someone else’s fault? “I’m not–” what? You’re not trying to throw the blame everywhere but your own office? Nice to see you finally get around to admitting that the “stimulus” package that’s so obviously failing is your responsibility but your prescription for making it work is to just give it time? Check your own charts, sir – according to your own estimates the recovery would have occurred, given enough time, all by itself and without a trillion dollars in additional debt. In fact, according to those estimates we’d have been better off by now without the package you and your allies rammed down our throats without even sufficient time to read the whole thing. (Which, by the way, appears to be becoming a habit given the Waxman-Markey bill.)

No one who’s serious should be saying that the Obama administration didn’t inherit an economy that was on the slide and, the previous 2 years of Democrat-led Congress aside, the fact is the Republican-led Congress before it bears the blame for not pushing harder to get safeguards in place. But to suggest that the actions taken since aren’t to be judged on their own or that the architects of those actions aren’t to be held responsible for them isn’t gonna fly. Nice try, Mr. Biden.